|
MediaBay
Announces Digital Media Distribution Strategy |
9/14/04
Company Aggressively Digitizing
its Content Catalog
for Global Digital Distribution
CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J.,
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MediaBay
(Nasdaq: MBAY), a leading spoken audio media and marketing
company, today
announced its digital media distribution strategy.
The Company has begun digitizing and encoding its nearly
75,000 hour
library of spoken word content that includes 25,000 hours of
audio books and
50,000 hours of famous Old Time Radio shows, including The
Shadow, Amos and
Andy, Jack Benny, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke and more. Once
the content is
digitized, the Company expects to make it available for
download on the many
evolving music services and content stores that are
proliferating on the
Internet, as well as through its own websites at http://www.audiobookclub.com
and http://www.radioclassics.com.
MediaBay CEO Jeffrey Dittus stated, "In digitizing our
content, we are
preserving the history of American Radio and making it
available to a whole
new generation of listeners. Combined with the power of our
nationally
syndicated old time radio show, which airs on 240 stations
across the United
States and our existing partnerships with XM and SIRIUS
satellite radio, we
believe we are also building a compelling digitally based
cross-promotional
vehicle for advertising. We intend for our audience to cross
the chasm
between the generations, from those whose families grew up
listening to our
programming, to the new generation, who gets their media on
the Internet.
"As our strategy relates to our audiobook business, research
conducted by
the Audio Publishers Association shows that 70% of audiobook
users listen to
them in their cars or on portable devices. By making our
content available to
the digital customer, we believe the market for our audio
content could expand
and we may be able to significantly reduce the cost of
delivery. We believe
this distribution strategy could lead to increased revenues
and potentially
put the Company on a track to profitability."
MediaBay believes its potential digital distribution
partners could reach
users of personal computers and digital hand held devices,
such as windows
media enabled PC's, CD burners for personal use, cell
phones, and a growing
number of other lifestyle devices similar to the Apple iPod.
Ensuring that the Company's content is protected from piracy
is critical
to this strategy, so MediaBay intends to work with
established rights
management platforms, including the new Microsoft digital
rights management
system. The Company believes that by working with partners
that have open
systems, and not developing its own proprietary system, a
broader audience of
listeners could be reached as the market matures.
More than 550 million cell phones were sold last year, and
the convergence
of the PDA, cell phone and MP3 player is now a reality. As
these devices are
enabled with rights management software to protect branded
content, coupled
with hard drives to store downloads, the usage and listening
hours for
MediaBay's audiobook and old time radio library is expected
to increase
significantly. The Company believes that the availability of
MediaBay's
content in digital channels should give consumers new and
easier access to the
great entertainers of the past, many of which, are still
adored today and are
being shared across generational lines.
MediaBay, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBAY) is a multi-channel, media
marketing company
specializing in the $800 million audiobook industry and
old-time radio program
distribution. MediaBay's industry-leading content library
contains more than
75,000 hours of spoken audio content including over 50,000
hours of classic
radio programming, 3,500 film and television programs and
thousands of
audiobooks. MediaBay distributes content through more than
20 million direct
mail catalogs; streaming and downloadable audio over the
Internet; over 7,000
retail outlets; a 240 station syndicated radio show and 24
hour Classic Radio
channels on XM and Sirius satellite radio. For more
information on MediaBay,
please visit http://www.MediaBay.com or its subsidiary
sites:
http://audiobookclub.com, http://radiospirits.com, and
http://radioclassics.com.
Certain statements in this press release constitute
"forward-looking"
statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the Company's actual results,
performance or
achievements to be materially different from any results,
performances or
achievements express or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These
risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to,
the Company's
history of losses; the Company's ability to anticipate and
respond to changing
customer preferences, license and produce desirable content,
fund and execute
successful marketing campaigns, protect its databases and
other intellectual
property from unauthorized access, pay its trade creditor
and collect
receivables; dependence on third-party providers, suppliers
and distribution
channels; competition; the costs and success of its
marketing strategies;
product returns; member attrition and other risks detailed
in the Company's
Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Undue reference
should not be
placed on these forward-looking statements, which speak only
as of the date
hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking
statements.
Contacts:
Jeffrey Dittus,
Chief Executive Officer
MediaBay, Inc.
T: 973-539-9528
E: j.dittus@mbayinc.com
Rachel Levine, Investor Relations
The Anne McBride Co.
T: 212-983-1702 x207
E: rlevine@annemcbride.com
More MP3 News
